Sunshine Girl Shimona Nelson after representing Jamaica at the just concluded INF Fast-five championships has remained in Australia where she has taken up a contract with the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Suncorp Super Netball League.

The teenager, who turned down an offer to play college basketball in Chicago, comes in as replacement for injured shooter Cat Tuivaiti who is recovering from a knee reconstruction and is not expected to make her debut for the Thunderbirds until at least round four.

Nelson made her debut for Jamaica in May and was the team’s leading shooter in the series against Barbados. A feat that saw her earn a spot in the Jamaica Under side 21 side for the World Youth Championship in Botswana in July.

She now becomes the third Jamaican to feature for the Thunderbirds after the now retired Carla Borrego and Malysha Kelly who recently made the move across the Tasman to join the Southern Steel in the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand.

The 2018 Super League season in the meantime tips off on April 28 with the Kadie-Ann Dehaney’s Melbourne Vixens playing away to the Magpies Netball Club in Melbourne.

Nelson will make her debut a day later when the Thunderbirds host the Jhaniele Fowler-Reid’s West Coast Fever in what will be the first clash of Jamaicans on opposing teams.

Romelda Aiken, the other Jamaican playing in the league, will turn out for the Queensland Firebirds who open on the road to the NSW Swifts in Sydney.